Tomorrow is February. How about that?

Last year, I saw this pin about an easy Valentines Day craft where you cut out 14 construction paper hearts and write something you love about your child on each one. Starting on February 1, you tape a heart to their door every day until Valentine’s Day.

This craft checks so many boxes for me!

1️⃣ It’s a countdown to help young kids understand waiting for a holiday.

2️⃣ It’s a cheap, easy way to decorate for a holiday.

3️⃣ It’s a lesson in being thoughtful, all while reinforcing a child’s confidence and sense of self-worth.

I also love this pin:

In the article, the mom does this for her kids but I also love the idea of having siblings make a heart for each other each day.

As a soon-to-be mom of two boys, I really want to foster positive relationships between my kids. It’s so easy for sibling rivalries to grow in the absence of affection and appreciation towards each other. I hope I can help my boys celebrate their brother’s strengths and understand that they will not always be good at the same things – and that’s okay. 🤞🏻

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Isn’t it interesting how we experience holidays differently through the many stages of our lives?

When we’re young, there’s the fun and social aspect of getting treats and Valentines from our classmates … with the beginnings of crushes, the excitement of getting a special Valentine for the first time, or the fear of giving a special Valentine for the first time!

Personally, I will always treasure how my very sweet father got flowers and chocolates and cards for me and my sister every Valentine’s Day until we went off to college.

Then we start romantic relationships and experience the holiday in a totally different way – there’s passion and these big displays to impress your significant other.

The holiday changes again when you’re married. Or it did for me. Suddenly, it’s less flashy, more sentimental, and maybe even less important than the daily ways we show our love.

And now I’m finding a whole new way to enjoy Valentine’s Day through my children!

There are certainly valid arguments about holidays being over-commercialized, just another reason to buy more meaningless stuff. It’s up to us to keep the focus on family, friends, and of course the little things. Holidays are important for many reasons besides what they stand for individually: the rituals and rhythm they bring to our year, the family traditions they help create or preserve, and the excuse to make things a little more special and a little more beautiful.